by Pepe O'Neill
‘She was standing right beside him!’ Wan shouted picking up the bandages. ‘I bet she’s changed herself back into a mouse. Search the area! She can’t be far away!’
The she demon had indeed transformed herself back into a mouse and was scuttling towards the nearest drain. Unfortunately she was seen and a shout went up. She squeezed herself through a crack in the pipe and fell into a bubbling, smelly sludge. Choking and spluttering, she quickly transformed herself into a rat to suit her surroundings and followed the flow of sludge to a river. No one saw her emerge from the drain or saw her change into a ginger haired cat.
Close to the monastery, she entered a village and climbed a tree. From there she was able to watch the monks scurrying about searching the village from top to bottom. Not one of them thought to search the tree.
Chapter 29
THE SHE DEMON HAS A
CHANGE OF PLAN
Celeste flew into the stables where the trio were back discussing their next move. Excitedly she told them that she had seen a back door to the stables and that a river flowed close by that could be used to fool the she demon as to their route again. But first, Celeste explained, Jade would have to leave a false trail for the she demon to follow, so as to give them more time to escape. Celeste asked him to gallop north like a normal horse with his hooves touching the ground. After half a day, he was to retrace his movements by fly-galloping back to the stables. While he did that, Chamly and Monkey were to clear a tunnel through the bales of hay hiding the back door and their means of escape.
By the time Jade returned, Monkey and Chamly had dug a large tunnel through the hay and they led Jade through it to the back door. Once he was outside, Chamly and Monkey quickly replaced the bales of hay before joining him and Celeste by the river.
It was hours later when Jade waded out of the freezing waters of the fast flowing river, satisfied that he had put enough distance between them and the she demon.
When the monks completed their search of the village and left, the she demon climbed down from the tree and crept back into the monastery compound. It did not take her long to find the trail of scent leading out of the monastery and chuckling, she left the monastery behind her. Transforming herself back into a leopard, she followed the fresh scent north. After many hours of limping along as fast as she could, the scent completely vanished. For two days she stubbornly continued to sniff around the area refusing to believe she had lost them. In the end it was her painful paw, oozing pus and blood that made her turn back towards the monastery. She re-entered the village, once again disguised as a cat. She meowed pitifully at the first front door she came to and, as luck would have it, Nu Jio, the daughter of the local doctor opened the door. Seeing the injured cat, she picked it up and took it inside to her father.
‘It looks badly infected to me, Nu Jio,’ her father said inspecting the cat’s paw. ‘I’ll treat it and put a bandage around it. She needs to stay off that paw for at least a week or it will go gangrenous and I’ll have to cut it off. You better see if anyone has lost a ginger cat in the village. She’s too fat to be a stray.’
The she demon’s eyes almost popped out when she heard that she might suffer an amputation. Usually, when she transformed from one creature to another any injuries she had suffered were left behind. Now, for some reason, that wasn’t happening. She resigned herself to the fact that she would have to stay here until the paw was better. As for being fat! She’d show the good doctor what fat really looked like when she had him in her belly.
It was near the end of the week when she overheard the doctor asking his daughter to take some pills up to the monastery for the monk Diyou. Purring, the she demon jumped into Nu Jio’s arms pleading to go with her. Nu Jio laughed and asked her father if it would be alright if the cat went with her. He told her that she could as long as she put the cat into the bicycle basket.
When Nu Jio parked the bike outside the classroom, the cat vomited.
‘You poor thing!’ Nu Jio cried, giving the cat a cuddle. ‘I didn’t realise cats suffered from bicycle sickness.’
Nor did I, the she demon thought to herself.
Chi Ti opened the classroom door to her knock and smiled as he let her in. ‘What a lovely looking cat! I didn’t know you had one.’
‘She’s a stray. At the moment she’s suffering from bicycle sickness and a sore foot. I think she could do with a drink of milk. Have you got some handy?’
‘Of course,’ Chi Ti said and went to get a small bowl.
While the cat lapped greedily at the milk, Nu Jio handed Chi Ti a little rice paper package of pills and wandered over to the map on the wall.
‘Where are we on the map, Chi Ti?’ she asked.
‘Here’s Xiahe,’ Chi Ti said putting his finger on the map.
‘Show me somewhere else?’
‘Well, we had a boy staying here who was on his way to the Longmen Caves.’
The she demon looked up from her bowl of milk and jumped up on to the desk to study the map.
‘Looks like your cat wants a geography lesson!’ Chi Ti laughed giving the cat a rub under the chin.
The she demon purred while the bile rose again at the closeness of the monk.
‘Where are the Longmen Caves?’ Nu Jio asked.
Chi Ti drew his finger east and stabbed the map. ‘Here! It’s about five hundred kilometres away from Xiahe.’
‘Why does the boy have to go to the Longmen Caves, Chi Ti?’
‘He said he had to meet a blind dragon there.’
Nu Jios’ eyes grew wide. ‘Are there really dragons in the world, Chi Ti?’
‘I hear there’s some on an island called Komodo. In China, there are far too many myths and legends about dragons to dismiss them as mere fairytales.’
Nu Jio looked at the clock on the wall and said hurriedly. ‘I must go. My mother is taking me to a friend’s house and I don’t want to be late. I hope Dijou gets better soon.’ She hurriedly scooped up the cat and went outside.
Outside the cat went berserk, scratching at Nu Jio until she was forced to drop her.
‘Come back!’ Nu Jio cried.
But the cat had no intention of ever coming back.
Chapter 30
THE GLACIER
Meanwhile, Jade had come to a standstill beside a small wooden cabin at the base of a range of snow-capped mountains. Light spilled into the darkness from the open door as an old man came and stood on the front step. He eyed them with suspicion as he puffed on his pipe.
‘What do you want?’ he growled through puffs of smoke wafting around his white beard.
‘I was hoping you’d give me shelter for the night and some water. I mean you no harm,’ Chamly replied.
The old man tapped his pipe against the doorframe to clear it. Finally he smiled. ‘You look hungry. I was just about to cook my supper. Get down and come in. I haven’t seen anyone for months and it would be nice to have some company for a change. Put your donkey and monkey into the barn over there. Hang on while I go inside and get you a lamp.’
A few moments later, the old man came out with a lighted oil lamp and gave it to Chamly. ‘You’ll find some food in there that you can give to your animals. Don’t be long.’
Later, as they sat in front of the fire, Chamly told the old man about the she demon and warned him to keep away from anything with a limp.
The old man, who believed in all the old myths and legends of China, took the threat very seriously, but told Chamly not to worry about him. He had been a member of the red army in the Cultural Revolution, and still had his gun. This he kept oiled and loaded in the event that he should need it. Yawning, he stood up. Going to a locker he took out a bedroll and showed Chamly where he could sleep.
The next morning, the old man gave him some provisions and directions for a short cut through the mountains, which though difficult, would take them east.
With Chamly and Monkey on his back, Jade zigzagged his way up a stony pathway before reaching a narrow pass high up
in the mountains where the air became thin and icy cold. Shivering and labouring for breath, Chamly’s teeth clattered together with the cold.
‘Do me a favour and cover yourself with the shawl. I’m getting a headache listening to your teeth being knocked about,’ Jade complained.
Once covered in the shawl, Chamly warmed up, leaving Jade to concentrate on negotiating the narrow pass made treacherous by waterfalls pouring over the rocky surface.
Half way through the pass Jade was forced to stop when a high wall of ice blocked his way.
Wheezing through puffs of vapour, Chamly struggled to get more oxygen into his lungs as he looked up at the glacier. ‘The old man said we should be passing this glacier on our left. Looks to me as if it’s grown a lot since the old man was up here last. What are we going to do? We need Celeste? She’s never around when we need her. She’s going to have to reconnoitre the area and tell us how to get around this.’
As if on cue, Celeste appeared. ‘I can see you need my help. Thank goodness you didn’t try and climb up here. You would have slid off to a certain death if you had. Instead, if you look over there, the glacier flattens out for a bit. You should be able to climb to the top of the ice from that point and walk across. I suggest Monkey goes first as he’s the lightest. He should walk in front of you with a long stick so that he can check for gaps and holes under the ice.’
Monkey nodded in agreement and found a long stick close by. Within minutes, they were all standing on top of the glacier. Jade and Chamly half-blinded by the sunlight bouncing off the layers of icy crystals followed Monkey cautiously across the sheet of ice. Halfway across the ice creaked and groaned like a wooden boat on an open sea before giving way below Chamly’s feet. He didn’t have time to shout or scream as he dropped through the ice and landed on a ledge, deep within a chasm. A shower of ice crystals powdered his body, as he lay there stunned and bruised. Moaning, he rolled over and looked up. High above him, he could see Monkey and Jade looking down on him against a backdrop of blue sky.
‘Don’t move!’ Monkey shouted down. ‘The monkey soldiers will get you out. Just stay still!’
The ice shifted under Monkey’s feet and he heard Chamly scream.
Down in the depths of the chasm, the continual movement of the ice was forcing the ledge forward and it was now scraping and grinding away on the ice wall opposite. Soon it would be gone and Chamly with it. To his relief, the monkey soldiers appeared holding each other’s hands and tails to form a long rope. They looped under his arms and around his waist just as the ledge broke off. Chamly was left dangling in mid-air. Quickly the monkey soldiers pulled him to the surface and lay him down.
‘I thought we’d lost you!’ Jade wailed as he nuzzled his nose into Chamly’s shoulder.
Once the monkey soldiers had disappeared back into his hands, Monkey held out his hand to Chamly. ‘Get up before your bottom freezes to the glacier. Now that we’ve become a threesome again, I think we should get off here before one of us does another disappearing act.’
Chapter 31
THE FAIRY OF PEARL SHOAL
They found the path on the other side of the glacier and followed it in its descent through the mountains to a valley of beautiful turquoise, crystalline lakes and waterfalls.
Despite the deafening noise of tumbling water, Chamly heard someone weeping. He was surprised to see a tiny woman sitting in the middle of a waterfall and quickly clambered across the boulders to ask what was wrong.
The woman let her hands fall into the water. She looked up at him with the saddest eyes he’d ever seen. ‘My name is Pearl and I mourn for the lost pearls from my broken necklace. For years I have pulled every curtain of water aside to see if there are any pearls caught between the rocks and not one have I found.’
‘Perhaps you should give up?’ Chamly reasoned.
‘Never!’ the tiny woman wailed. ‘My true love gave them to me. I could never give up!’
Chamly could see that any persuasion was useless and left her to continue the search.
At the bottom of the waterfall, they came across a woman sweeping the path. She looked up from under a black bowler hat and smiled. White teeth showed against tanned cheekbones that had weathered into a map of wrinkles. ‘You’re here early!’ she called out. ‘Did you stay at the hotel in Zechawa?’
‘No. I came into this valley from the west,’ Chamly answered, pointing back in the direction from which he had just come.
‘Why on earth did you come that way? Nobody I know has ever used that old route and I’m sixty-five. Normally, people come in from Jiuzhaigou.’
‘My mother died recently and I have to go to Luoyang,’ Chamly replied. He felt it would be best not to say too much to this woman, however friendly her smile.
‘That’s a long way to go for such a young person. Do you have a relation to go to in Luoyang?’ she asked, pulling off her hat and letting her long thin black plaits cascade down her back. Chamly had read somewhere that these long plaits often numbered one hundred and eight and that they constituted the sacred qualities of an enlightened mind. Using her hat to fan her face, she waited for Chamly to answer. Chamly shook his head and tried not to cry.
The woman’s heart went out to him. ‘My name is Chang E. I insist you come with me and have something hot to eat. I was just about to go home for my tea break. I’ll text my daughter to bring some food back from the canteen where she works. There are always plenty of leftovers after the tourists have had their lunch. Come on, it’s not out of your way.’
Putting her brush against a tree, she led Chamly across a long wooden boardwalk where water bubbled and flowed inches below them, and up some steep steps to a gravel road. Just then, a busload of tourists drove past at high speed, spraying them with dust and gravel.
‘Are you alright?’ Chang E asked. ‘Come on, before we all get killed. The village is just around the corner.’
Following Chang E, they entered a village where hundreds of colourful Prayer Flags flapped in the breeze above old wooden houses that lined the one street. Villagers stopped and stared in curiosity and asked Chang E who the stranger was with the monkey. She answered with what little knowledge she had and carried on up the road. The villagers, not satisfied with the answers she gave, followed them all the way to her home.
While Chang E went inside to make tea, the villagers tried to prise as much information as possible out of Chamly. Fortunately, Chang E was not long in bringing him out a cup of tea and the villagers learnt very little. They fell silent when they overheard him asking Chang E whom the little woman was that he had seen kneeling and crying in the waterfall.
‘You’ve met the Pearl Fairy?’ Chang E asked in surprise. ‘I’ve only seen her once and that was only for the blink of an eye.’ She turned to the villagers and shouted. ‘Did you hear that? He’s met the fairy of the Pearl Shoal. None of you believed me!’ She turned back to Chamly and said quietly, ‘I thought I was hallucinating when I saw her the other day! There is a legend about the Pearl Shoal involving a fairy that was in love with a Tibetan man, hundreds of years ago. He gave her a sparkling pearl necklace as a symbol of his affection and she in return, gave him a very strong axe with magical powers. He was a good man and used it wisely, building hundreds of canals to stop the whole area from being flooded. Unfortunately, a god heard about this man’s deeds and was furious that a mere mortal could wield such magic. He ordered his servants to go down and seize the fairy who had given away such a precious gift. When they found her they held her down and, in the struggle, the pearl necklace broke. She managed to pull herself free and escape but her pearls fell and formed all the waterfalls and cascades that you see.’ Chang E turned to the crowd again and cried out, ‘The legend is true. The fairy does exist!’
The villagers muttered amongst themselves and then began to run back down the road towards the waterfall. Chang E’s daughter arrived with a hamper of various leftovers but quickly left once she’d heard what was going on. Soon the sighting of the
Pearl Fairy had spread through the canteen like a forest fire and cooks, waitresses and tourists alike, streamed out and hurried after the villagers.
Chang E gave Chamly some rice and a dumpling to eat and said with a chuckle, ‘That poor little fairy! I’m sure she’ll hide or take flight when she hears the stampede of feet crossing the boardwalks.’
Chang E wrapped up the remainder of the food in newspaper and gave it to Chamly. Sighing, she said, ‘I must go back to work now. I’m sorry I can’t give you any money, but I have very little of my own. I presume you want to keep away from the main roads?’ Chamly nodded. ‘Well I have heard of an ancient pass through the mountains to the east of this valley, but I don’t know where it is. If you go to the end of the road, you will come across a car park and a very long lake. Beside the lake is the Zaru Temple where you will find five monks. They might be able to direct you to it.’ Waving good-bye, she walked back towards the waterfalls.
Except for the fluttering of flags, there was neither sound nor movement in the village as they galloped away from it. They followed the road up through slopes covered in dragon spruce and red maple trees. Monkey remarked that the leaves of the maple were made red by the blood of an evil god called Chiyou.
‘How come?’ Chamly asked.
‘Chiyou had been an aide and companion to the Yellow Emperor until he got too big for his boots and decided he wanted the Yellow Emperor’s powers for himself. There were many fierce battles between them, but eventually the Yellow Emperor won and Chiyou was captured and sentenced to death. When the sentence of strangulation was carried out, Chiyou struggled so hard to escape his fate that the shackles round his ankles and wrists became soaked in blood. The Yellow Emperor was so disgusted at Chiyou’s cowardice that, after the sentence had been carried out, he threw the shackles down to earth. The blood splattered over the maple trees making them red for all eternity. Is that the car park I see ahead?’